1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to massage tables, and more particularly to massage tables for use in physical therapy, massage, and other related body work activities.
2. Description of the Related Art
In therapeutic massage and other related body work, most practitioners prefer to use a table to support the person who is being massaged at a level which is convenient and comfortable to work at. It is highly desirable to have such a table which provides a strong working surface, is lightweight, adjustable, and easy to set up an break down for storage.
Heretofore a wide variety of tables have been proposed and implemented for massage and other therapeutic body work.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,927,128, issued to the present inventor on May 22, 1990 disclosed a sliding leg bodywork table including a channel system which provided support for the table legs and rotatable diagonal braces which extended from a cross tube for connecting each leg pair to the table surface. A system of wire ropes supported the central hinged end of the table top sections and operated in conjunction with diagonal braces for locking of the legs in an operational position.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,333,638 to Gilloti discloses a table with a truss suspension system having legs hinge from the ends of the table and diagonal braces extending from the center of the table to attach onto the table legs. The truss system consisted of a cord member of wire rope or flexible material attached to the lower end of the legs and extended the full length of the table parallel to the table surface. Users regarded this type of table as unsatisfactory because the position of the cable interfered with the movement of the user and required the user to connect and disconnect the diagonal braces on one or both ends on setting up or collapsing the table.
Another type of folding table is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,357,729 to Krueger, consisting of a collapsible table with strap-like brace members having folding legs at each end. This type of table did not have a support cable system attached to the legs, nor did it provide a strong working platform, and tended to be noisy when rocking forces were applied thereto. Also this type of table required some skill and training on the part of its users to set up and collapse, and provided limited means to adjust height dimension of the working surface.
A different genre of folding support structures is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,326,461 to Howe. Such table consisted of a plurality of braces hinged to support legs, and was foldable into a carrying case. This type of support structure relates to tables where the act of folding together the hinged top portion causes collapsing or folding of the support legs. Such table was not adjustable, stable, or suitable for massage or other body work application. Most users, therefore, would find it desirable to have a massage table that provides a strong working platform that is quiet even when rocking forces are applied, adjustable, lightweight, easy to set up, collapse, store, and inexpensive to manufacture.
Accordingly, it is the primary object of this invention to provide an improved sliding cable massage table which is very lightweight and portable, provides a very stable working surface for massage and other therapeutic bodywork, which has a very reliable self-opening and closing leg mechanism with a built-in locking capability, and which is very inexpensive to manufacture.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.